Europe Model Welfare State that American Liberals love can't sustain itself!

[Plane]

I didn't say "control" did I?


I started with subsidy and wound up with occupation, I don't know where you get the silly "control" idea, we never controlled them very much .

In Japan we exercised real control , briefly, since then the Japanese have used the tools we forged .

Europe has had a golden age , in which its military responsibility and internal conflict was not only focused but subsidized by American cash and manpower.


This is drawing to a close , I think we will live to see the dissolution of NATO, and then we will learn whether Europeans have the power of will and memory to keep the balance without us holding them up.

    We are like a parent launching a kid on its bicycle , there is some risk , but we can swell with pride to see them stabilize and speed up as we let them go.





Unless of course the Caliphate achieves its aims and captures a lot of that territory and sells everyone that they do not kill into slavery.

[Xavier_Onassis]

You said we occupied Europe. I assume you refer to the present day, since we still have troops in Germany and several other places. If that is not control, how do you think that Europe benefits from it?

[Plane]

  Firstly , their armed forces are much smaller than they would need to be without us.

   Europe has enjoyed this advantage on our coin since 1918.

    Secondly they have learned enough about how we do things to emulate the better parts.

      There is hardly any excuse for them to not do better.

[Xavier_Onassis]

How many troops does Belgium need to prevent it from being invaded?  No Belgian army has ever successfully prevented Belgium from being overrun. No one has wanted to overrun Belgium for the past 69 years. The same is true of the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.

These countries are not currently having any more difficulty sustaining themselves than the US is having. You cannot name the leaders of any of these countries, can you?
Why is that? Because they are very well run and there have been no serious scandals in any of them.

[Plane]

No one has wanted to overrun Belgium for the past 69 years.

You mean the NATO period?

You are welcome Belgium.

The army in Belgium is a famous joke , they know that they are not depending on their own military power at all.

Seventy years ago , when they were still serious colonizers, they had a serious army, but they were using it in the Congo, even if it had all been at home , it might not have been enough anyway, their invader was an order of magnitude, or better ,stronger.

Norway was secretly a good ally during WWII , whatever happened to Quisling anyway? 

He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress, Oslo, on 24 October 1945.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_Quisling

Hmmm.... about as I expected.

[sirs]

You keeop referencing a great point Plane.  The vast majority of these "successful" countries need only spend a fraction of a fraction of their country's budget on their military or defense needs....specifically because of the U.S. & NATO.  We're not supposed to be the global police, but countries, just like Belgium welcome and even expect it.  That way, the vast majority of their budgets can go into social engineering & related programs. 

No one wants to overrun Belgium, or any other country, because of the presence of the U.S. as well as NATO.  Everyone saw what happened to Iraq, when they tried it.  Of course now, with the new placating policies being put in place, countries like China, Russia, and North Korea feel embolden, especially when they see how ISIS can make such geographical gains, despite our "military presence"

[Xavier_Onassis]

So, are your saying that but for NATO and the US, Belgium would be overrun by North Korea, China or Russia?

I find that rather unlikely.

[sirs]

Did I say that?  I think not

[Plane]

So, are your saying that but for NATO and the US, Belgium would be overrun by North Korea, China or Russia?

I find that rather unlikely.

Why do you find it unlikely?

Didn't something like that happen to Poland in an eastward direction , then a westward direction? ?

Didn't something like that happen twice in Belgium early in each WW?

[Xavier_Onassis]

There is no longer such a threat to Belgium
Or Poland.

This is not 1939

[sirs]

And as Plane accurately referenced....."Thank you, U.S. & Nato"

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am sure Belgium appreciates you and Plane thanking the US for them.

[sirs]

Our pleasure

[Plane]

There is no longer such a threat to Belgium
Or Poland.

This is not 1939

Yes , but does this prove your point or mine?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Mine, of course.

The defeat of Hitler ended rabid nationalism. And the Soviets probably did more to bring him down than the Americans. They certainly lost more lives.